Tuesday, 10 July 2007

More Swedish madness

Swedish radical feminist Joanna Rytel wrote an article called “I Will Never Give Birth to a White Man,” for a major Swedish daily, Aftonbladet, stating things such as “no white men, please… I just puke on them.”

Well Joanna, based on your photo ('is that a pair of balls I see before me?') I'd say you're not going to get too many chances to demonstrate your point.Anyway, after receiving a complaint because of this, Swedish state prosecutor Göran Lambertz explained why this didn’t qualify as racism: “The purpose behind the law against incitement of ethnic hatred was to ensure legal protection for minority groups of different compositions and followers of different religions. Cases where people express themselves in a critical or derogatory way about men of ethnic Swedish background were not intended to be included in this law.”Thanks Goran - couldn't have put it better myself. Racism is all one-way. Swedish self-destruction takes another leap forward.

4 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Actually this was pretty mainstream compared to some of the stuff that she has said.

From the blogspot Eat French Bread

A few years ago the (male) Swedish prime minister publicly announced that he was a feminist, triggering most leaders of the other political parties to do the same. In 2005 Sweden gave birth to the world's first feminist party at a high parliamentary level, the Feminist Initiative. On of it’s founders, Tiina Rosenberg, said "Marriage has an entirely too unequal tradition to ever become something good … Don't be afraid of the lecherous old man in the street, be afraid of the family."

The Swedes are a pretty cool bunch. It’s perhaps not surprising that the feminist artist and journalist Joanna Rytel, born in Warsaw in 1974, chooses the country as her home. I quoted her in a previous post on female flashers Joanna Rytelfrom an article that intrigued me, but I’ve been unable to find substantial information about her in English. Following are some fragments I have come across.

- She wrote an article entitled I Will Never Give Birth to a White Man, for a major Swedish daily, Aftonbladet. In it she explained that she hates white men because they are selfish, exploitative, vain and sex-crazed. To make it crystal clear she added, "no white men, please… I just puke on them, thank you very much." Members of the Swedish National Socialist Front - an admittedly neo-Nazi group - called the article to the attention of authorities, saying that it violated the newly introduced Swedish laws prohibiting "hate speech." However, much to the outrage of white supremacist groups worldwide, they refused to indict Miss Rytel, stating: "the purpose behind the law against incitement of ethnic hatred was to ensure legal protection for minority groups of different compositions and followers of different religions. Cases where people express themselves in a critical or derogatory way about men of ethnic Swedish background were not intended to be included in this law. Because of that, the content in this article cannot be considered incitement of ethnic hatred."

- As a member of the feminist performance group Unfucked Pussy, she caused a stir in 2001 with an action against the Miss Sweden pageant by picketing the stage on live television with a banner bearing the word "gubbslem" (“old men's slime”). The contest lost it’s main sponsor shortly after, along with any remaining credibility it had held.

- She is an advocate for women’s underarm hair, which I love to hear. In Bon International magazine she writes a letter to a woman she saw in a café: “I couldn’t help checking whether you’d shave your armpits. You had, and I understand, rabid feminist though am. Being unshaven really puts the pressure on you … people pointing, staring, wondering. I get the feeling they think I’m lazy or sloppy or gross … But Victoria – how are we ever going to change the world? You’re a roll model, you know. Would you consider letting your hair grow?”

From her Animal Performance film series, where she dances for different types of animals- She came up with a highly controversial jewellery collection entitled Happy Abortion Children with earrings, brooches, necklaces and rings formed as aborted foetuses. Having herself celebrated the birthday of her aborted child and set up an online forum for post-abortive parents, she believes women who abort pregnancies should feel no guilt. "Despite that it is a little sad to have an abortion. But one does it for the child's sake. It would not have been good to have a child half-heartedly. They have it much better in heaven than if they hade been born. I thought that it would be good to make jewellery, because then people can carry their happy abortion-children with them," she said.

- In an article entitled Want Me To Play Nurse With Your Willie? she writes about her desire to be a prostitute. “How else can I keep doing my art?” she muses. “We keep condemning whores so other smart girls don’t start charging too. But I’m smart. Why fuck for free? Why spend eight hours a day working? … I’ll be selling myself free, because only idiots work. It doesn’t matter what your job is or how much you make. I’m going to sell sex for the fun of it. And I’m going to make art out of it. Victim power, you know.”

Needless to say, she causes a bit of a stir from time to time. Like so much contemporary art, her work is criticised for having an over-reliance on shock, scandal and stunts. While I don't believe that misandry is necessary to make a feminist statement, I think she is working on the premise that if it offends you it affects you, and I think her humour about herself is always visible. I say keep it coming Joanna Rytel.